Here's the obligatory intro. I'm based in Auckland, New Zealand. Love reading the forums and hearing peoples take on various martial arts topics. I've been training in various arts since I was an insecure 16 year old and I'm now 50. I've dabbled in Judo, Karate, Jiu Jitsu, Kung Fu, TKD, Hapkido, Kempo and most recently Tai Chi and Baguazhang.

My peers are joining lawn bowling and patchwork quilt clubs but I still refuse to act my age. Martial arts keep you young at heart. I'm actually the 'young lady' in our Tai Chi class. The oldest is 86. Not so much the Baguazhang class though which is a bit more energetic.

Hi, My name is Andy LA and I have just joined this forum. I like many of the threads that I have seen posted on this forum and I hope I too could possibly add to this list of interest. My main interest has always been Self-Defense, a key subject that I have studied over a period of 40 years – no nothing much to do with Krav Maga or Jujitsu but more to do with Self-Defense for ordinary folks. All the very bestAndy LA

Hi Pilgrims,As I mentioned, I studied Self-Defence for many years before I retired mainly the kind of Self-Defence that many ordinary people were desperately looking for, not the Self-Defence often demonstrated in a Dojo which for ordinary people were too extreme, too physical and nearly impossible to execute out on the street. Please tell me of your thoughts and experience on Self-Defence – we never stop learning. Andy LA

Hi Pilgrims,I would like to post this thread on Self-Defence mainly in answer to an earlier post by a fellow member who said “I want to learn a simple technique against a Mugger.” Unfortunately there are no simple techniques you can learn from any Marshall Art Dojo with that question in mind. Any techniques from any of the Marshall Art Disciplines would take you years to learn to execute, because for it to be affective in a sudden surprise attack, you would have to execute that technique instinctively without any hesitation or thought – it has to be an immediate action. Unfortunately you can’t learn a technique for a specific street fighter, because there is no such a thing as a “typical street fighter,” you may encounter a knife fighter, and you may not know he has a knife until you feel it against your belly or your throat, a Mugger with a gun or a man with a baseball bat – there are no typical street fighters. And their main weapon is surprise, those who wait and descend on you from the shadows, someone who has picked you as a soft target. It’s not Randori (free practice as in Judo) out there on the streets or a one-to-one Self-Defense demonstration as practised in a Dojo. In these kind of scenarios could you ever imagine an ordinary citizen executing a Seoinaga (a shoulder throw) on a Mugger or a young woman attempting an arm lock against a 16 stone aggressive determined attacker – and yet this is what many MA schools still teach you, and those who have attempted these techniques have either ended seriously hurt or killed. AVOIDENCE then is your Key, 90% of a successful Self-Defence is AVOIDENCE and only 10% resort to a physical response when Avoidance has failed. AVOIDENCE is a key part of Self-Defence; it is a mind-set on how to avoid a confrontation, and how to respond when Avoidance fails with a very simple and affective physical strike against your attacker with minimum effort and maximum affect. Students are often swayed by the Hollywood WOW factor, mostly all action shots are choreographed it would be impossible otherwise to survive some of the actions taken by many of our movie hero’s. Andy LA

Sorry for being so late in replying to your post -My experience of the Marshal Arts revolves mainly around Judo and which is often incorrectly associated with Self-Defense, when the same techniques practiced in a Dojo is then attempted on the street –During my RAF service and Membership of the 42 Commando Judo Club under the instruction of Lieutenant D. Downton 3rd Dan on the island of Malta in 1956; much of what I learned about “Self-Defense” was painfully demonstrated by Lieutenant Downton and his Commando Students, lessons that remained with me to this day. There he clearly demonstrated the difference between the practice of Judo or Karate in a Dojo and UN-arm combat as practiced by 42 commando and with the different Mind-set of Self-Defense. The practice of Judo as with other Marshal Arts is a practice or competition between two opponents, each is aware of the other opponents techniques, counter techniques and combinations. Each knows what the other can throw at him, and each waits for that one opportunity, that one opening to execute his throw. Self-Defense is not a competition or Randori of two Judokas on the street, firstly he is not going to give you an opportunity to attack, he will rush at you and will kick, punch, stab or bludgeon you to the ground and in less than a minute or two. It is a no win situation when you attempt to bring the Dojo to the street. My main practice has always been Judo but my interest for 40 years before I retired was the Art of Self-Defense.Andy LA

Hi Zombie Zero,Damn I did it again, just put it down to old age and a lack of concentration at times. To many it may not matter so much but it does to some. All I ask is that you understand the message. If I speak of executing an Osotogari against a Mae Geri frontal attack when I meant that he actually should step back and grab his attacking foot etc. to that error I would apologize and ask you how "You" would defend yourself against a frontal Mae Geri attack. “In high school I tried out for the spelling team, but only because I really wanted a letter jacket.” &#8213; Jarod Kintz, Andy LA